


Roommates

by Vesperchan



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/F, Friendship, Innocent, Modern AU, Multi, Poly, Polyamory, Roommates, See if you can spot the orientations, fluff friday, gals as pals, girls supporting girls, no one is straight, squint to see the relationships, they're all different
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-07-25 09:10:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7526830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vesperchan/pseuds/Vesperchan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The girls share a house together and muse on the odd link of love they have formed between themselves with friendship and strength.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Roommates

noSakuKarin roommates for you~  
Tension could only be found in the tightness on the guitar strings Karin kept behind her closet door since seventh grade. Nothing else about her living situation fed the rigidity of her mind. Not the rent, the location, and certainly not the pale blond beauty she had been working alongside for over two years now.  
No, she and Ino had been friendly partners at the firm for long enough to know and respect the space of each other. After moving in with each other and living so well in the same place, Karin was almost forced to admit she got along well with Ino.  
Ino’s longtime childhood best friend who had started living with them last month was a different story.  
“Don’t think about it,” Ino said around the end of her straw. She licked her lips before sipping the rest of her strawberry slush drink that may or may not have been spiked since her pick up at the corner gas station store. It was Ino. No one could be sure of anything.  
Karin narrowed her eyes at her friend from over the counter, doing little to move her body away from where it faced their living room. Sakura was hanging off the couch doing some odd sort of sit up that looked like it would make Ino cry if she tried it. Ino was all diets and vitamins for the sake of her curvature. Sakura was the opposite, yet somehow they fit so well as friends.  
“I didn’t say anything. What are you talking about, skank?” Karin snapped in love.  
Ino looked up through her overly thick lashes and hummed knowingly, her mouth still around the straw. A long pull dragged slush and ice up. Ino pulled away with a modest pop that left her lips stained. “You didn’t have to. I can tell when you turn your lesbian beams on.”  
Karin hated how the flush came out even as she growled. Ino was too smart for her own good. If only Karin could bring herself to hate the woman. But no, Ino was one of the few creatures on the earth Karin could admit to wanting to see alive at the end of the day. Still, the blond could make herself annoying with way too little effort.  
Karin tried not to stutter, and she sounded better than she had in her head. “I have no-what the hell are you talking about?”  
Ino rolled her eyes. “Oh please, I remember from when you first tried hitting on me, babe. You’re in for too long a road if you think you have a chance with Sakura, though, and not for the reason you may think.” Ino smoothed the side of her braid back, frowning out how strands were starting to fall free after only half a day. “I’ve known her long enough, trust me.”  
“Wow, that made so much sense. And it’s not like I’m admitting you’re right, but could you, like, not be a little more vague?”  
Ino looked down into the styrofoam of her cut and huffed, shaking it a bit. “Sakura’s never dated anyone, not even in high school. She doesn’t.”  
“She hasn’t?”  
“She doesn’t.” Ino’s tone stressed how she was correcting Karin’s misconception. “Sakura. Doesn’t. Date.”  
“Everyone dates,” Karin grumbled, feeling something in her chest drop a little bit. “Maybe she just hasn’t…experienced…or met the right person?”  
“Wow, sometimes you’re cute with how stupid you can be,” Ino cooed. “I thought we were supposed to be the open minded ones.”  
She left Karin in the kitchen to go sit on Sakura’s back as the older girl moved from sit ups to push ups. Karin didn’t miss the way Ino’s grin was just a bit too big and her laugh was more obnoxious than usual. It wasn’t like Karin was jealous with their closeness or anything like that. There was none of that, no tension whatsoever.

* * *

  
Two months and Sakura could say she was starting to feel at home. In her last place she had spent nearly a year on overpriced rent and never felt one day out of the year like she was home when she walked through the door. There was something she couldn’t put into words that happened in her chest when she opened the front door and she heard one of her two friends cursing out the other or throwing pillows across the kitchen into the sink. Ino howled in comedic rage, but Karin was too easy to set off.  
“What have the two of you done now?” Sakura asked, dropping her keys into the bowl by the door.  
With a roll of her shoulders the coat came next. There were hooks by the wall she could hang up her things, but it wasn’t nearly as cold as it used to be, so only a coat hung there anew. She ran a hand through her short hair, wondering if it was time for another trim. It was curving over her shoulders in soft waves and she liked it, but the heat was coming.  
“Sakura,” Ino fake sobbed, coming out to fall on top of her friend, extra clingy.  
Sakura inhaled and smelled tequila. “Were you trying to cook again?”  
“I can’t,” Ino moaned into Sakura’s shoulders.  
“Oh my God,” Karin huffed, rolling her eyes. “It’s one dinner, quit hanging off her and own up to it. Dinner is on you, so take out or something, now.” Karin clapped loudly and Ino whined again.  
“I got it,” Sakura sighed, rolling her friend off her shoulders as easily as her coat. “There are leftovers I can use. Just set the table, you two.”  
“I could cook too,” Karin protests, following Sakura into the kitchen where the plates and silver hid behind doors and in drawers. “But this is her night, she needs to own up. She didn’t last time, either.”  
“We were all busy last week,” Sakura said around a yawn. “And you, what were you doing?”  
“I brought some of the lab work home to go over, but I’m starved.” Karin found the forks and picked up a handful. “It’s not like the internet was going to work for me there, anyway.”  
“Yeah, it’s been bad,” Ino agreed, pulling down glasses while Sakura turns on the stove and sprays the pan with ’no stick’ spray. “They haven’t updated the computers in the pharmacy in forever.”  
Karin snorted. “I’ve never heard of them being updated.”  
“I know. They’re like the screens they used in the first Alien movie. All green tinted and ugly.”  
Sakura reeling, looking away from the ground meat in the pan she was breaking up. “Oh my God, that’s terrible.” She glanced back down at the pan and then reached for the hard taco shells they kept above the stove. “I didn’t know anyone used anything so old. I haven’t seen something like that since…” Her voice trailed off.  
“My dad had it on our home computer,” Ino interjected.  
Sakura smiled, remembering. “Yeah, that’s it. Now I feel old.”  
“How long have you known each other?” Karin asked, looking dow at her hands and tugging at one of the rings there. Pretending not to be too invested with the conversation she pulled off the modest silver band and began to play with it on the table top.  
“Years…um, well our parents were friends first, we were baby buddies,” Sakura said. “We were good friends as kids, then we were teenagers and things were sour.”  
“It was just for middle school, after I got over that boy.” Ino’s frown was more of a pout and Karin would have rolled her eyes if the subject hadn’t caught her so well.  
“What boy?”  
“In our grade we were divided into groups for the whole year to work on project based learning and one of the boys in my group, who I am still close friends with, was like this really big hot shot hunk type for middle school girls,” Sakura answered easily. She had a pile of chopped vegetables to add to the meat mixture.  
“You sound like you didn’t think he was a hunk,” Karin said, leaning forward. The ring was flat on the counter under her idle fingers.  
“Nah, I didn’t get it. I mean, it was a huge ego boost to feel like I got a good teammate, but Sasuke is such a moody brat, even now. It was hard to see anything more than that in him. And I’ve never been the type to fall all over others.” She looked up at Ino, saying this and the blond blushed.  
“Ever? It sounds like you’ve never dated.” Behind her back Ino glared hard at Karin. Karin gave it her best innocent face.  
“Not really. I don’t see the appeal in it. I just…really like the friendships I have right now,” Sakura answered easily, mixing in seasons with water and stirring it all through.  
“You think you might date in the future?” Karin asked, more than a little curious.  
“Ah, who knows,” Sakura easily answered, popping the hard shells into the microwave for 30 seconds. She stirred through the meat some more and then turned off the burner. “If you girls are ready bring your plates over. Ino, I picked up a redbox movie if you and Karin wanted to try it.”  
Minutes later the girls were situated around a television watching some modern space drama about a woman and her cat left behind. Once the last scene bled into credits Karin flipped back on the lights and like a team they began to pick up their mess, making jokes about it here and there.  
It was so much fun they continued the tradition, each movie growing progressively worse until it became a competition to see who could rent the worst movie and spin it to their own personalized drinking game.

* * *

  
Two months became three, and spring fell into summer and then before anyone knew it, five months later it was fall again.  
Ino wanted to cry but she didn’t as she climbed into her car and put it into reverse. The radio played nothing but commercials, and for some reason that made her want to scream. If there wasn’t noise or something loud in her ears she would just keep hearing the things they said and it was going to be too much if the branch manager stayed in her department for another week.  
She didn’t know how she did it, but Ino made it home. Opening the door she heard the comical jingle of another character’s death in Sakura Super Smash Brothers game. Karin was hanging off the edge of the couch and Sakura sat on the floor directly in front of the television.  
“No movie?” Ino asked, trying to sound casual and less like a whiny baby that wanted things, but her best efforts did little to hide her feelings from her best friend and one of the most intelligent red heads in her friend circle.  
Sakura was up with a fuzzy fleece blanket and Karin moved into the kitchen for the emergency cookie stash. Ino laughed at her friends, opening her mouth to tease them for worrying, but before she could help it, she heard herself sobbing. It didn’t make sense, she hadn’t meant to, she never wanted to, and Ino had thought she was going to be better at hiding these stupid fear chills.  
Sakura didn’t ask, didn’t speak, but held her friend tight while Karin put on a movie. Over Ino’s head she heard Karin explaining to Sakura about the new branch manager that was visiting. He was the kind of guy that really got on some of the girl’s nerves. Ino heard Karin explain in greater detail the kinds of things Ino and the other girls were having to put up until he moved back to the other branches.  
Ino didn’t say anything, and no one asked, but Sakura held her and Karin made sure the movie played.  
A week later Ino felt silly about it but neither roommate would let her say anything of the sort.  
Sakura had taken them to a club that reminded Ino of the Bronze from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, while Karin made sure the lady behind the bar had Ino’s favorite drink. When Karin came back she carried a pair of John Collins with extra sugar syrup. Sakura was the DD for the night, so she sipped nothing but water.  
“Panic attacks never make sense. At least he’s gone now,” Sakura hummed, stirring her water like it was something worth stirring with a straw.  
“It wasn’t something I could stop.”  
“Yeah,” Sakura said.  
Ino huffed. “It’s stupid. I’m over it now.”  
“Sure,” Karin said.  
“I mean it.”  
Ino reached for her drink and it went down too fast. Sakura handed Karin the money and Ino smiled apologetically, but Karin shrugged. Ladies night meant half off drinks. It was fine to treat out every now and then. They were working women. They could afford to splurge every now and then. For once Karin wasn’t going to call Ino a slush for it.  
It was funny how a year ago Karin would never have thought her life would turn and tilt in such a way. It was hard enough to believe that she would find a friend in Ino, a person she was willing to live with and work alongside. Ino had turned out to be a person Karin actually cared about. When Ino was hurt Karin felt it like a bruise below her rib cage. It hurt to see her friend hurt.  
Even more funny was how Sakura had slipped into that same spot beneath her ribs with half as much time and half the effort. Karin almost worried that she was going soft. Sakura had become too important of a person for how little time they knew each other. But Sakura was soft and kind and took fights and barbs in strides before she gave it as good as she got. She wasn’t soft for being weak, she was…she seemed so different for her softness. Karin marveled at it. Sakura saw shit, lived through shit, but her framework, the core of who she was remained unshaken. More than that, she was strong enough to hold others when they came home crying.  
Ino has had her fair share of panic attacks. But more than once, Karin came home at the end of her temper and said things she regretted in ways that made her burn in shame. In the morning there would be food outside the door and a note. Sometimes there was medicine if her throat had sounded raw in all her screaming. Sakura was picky about making sure they all stayed healthy. Both Ino and Karin worked at a pharmacy but Sakura worked at a hospital, so it was important they stay strong and healthy.  
“I’m a bitch,” Karin had said one morning when she caught Sakura with the food.  
“You act bitchy. It’s something you do, but you’re not a bitch.”  
“No, I’m pretty sure I’m a bitch.”  
“Only if you think you are,” Sakura challenged, a layer of steel to the underside of her words. She was kind and soft, but she wouldn’t be spoken to like she was stupid.  
Karin remembered exactly where in her chest she felt the dull pang when she realized this woman wasn’t going to let her live like that. Sakura wasn’t going to let Karin walk away free enough to call herself the names that had all been branded onto her forehead since the first foster home. It made Karin want to puke and fly all at the same time.  
Ino had been sneaky in reinforcing her best friend’s kindness. They were all a little bit messed up and more than a little bit broken, but hell if they weren’t going to work on it together.  
“You free, hot lips?” someone asked with a voice that might have been deeper without on any other night without booze.  
Karin growled, wanting to punch something, but one hand already had Ino’s drink and the other carried Sakura’s change. The best thing to do was ignore him. Any other day last year and this night would have ended differently. Likely with blood.  
She left him in the dust and over her shoulder she could hear his cursing her out, calling her things that might have aggravated her in the past. It made her want to frown, but it felt like a grin when she saw Ino and Sakura waiting for her.  
“What, no bloody knuckles?” Ino asked, eyeing the crowd Karin had come out of.  
“Not tonight.”  
Sakura beamed, like a proud mama. “Good.”

* * *

  
Nearly at the end of the warm days, the autumn came late but hard with winds that took Sakura by surprise. She knew she should have bundled up, she knew she should have been more careful about washing her hands and staying safe at work, but habit made her loose focus, and somehow it happened.  
She coughed and felt it in the back of her throat, but she made lemongrass tea and took her pills and told herself that it was just a bad night. She slept with her mouth open or something.  
The day dragged on forever and by the time she got home the pounding felt like it had doubled behind her eyes in her head. Karin was out and Ino had gone to bed early.  
Tomorrow was Friday, all she needed to do was make it through to one more day. It was fine. Sakura took her medicine and went to bed.  
Hours later she woke up and threw up what was left in her stomach. The capsule stood out and she knew she should have eaten something with it, even though she was throwing up now. She was hot too. There was a fever all over her skin. She was burning up.  
Hot, hot, hot.  
Sakura tried her best to pull her hair up and catch it all up in a clip with hands that shook. She ran the sink and dragged a wet cloth across her neck, wishing she wasn’t so overheated. Stripped down to her underwear she stretched out on the tile of her bathroom, hoping Ino didn’t wake up. Think was the bathroom they shared. Had she locked the door? Had she closed the door? Were the lights on, or just the nightlight?  
She wanted to sleep but her head hurt too much and she feared she might throw up again. Her stomach kicked like something angry and she reached for the toilet again.  
Stupid flu.  
At least it was Saturday and she didn’t have to worry about calling in sick.  
Sakura got up, thinking she had just been a few minutes, but the clock next to the hair curlers tells her it’s nearly morning and she’s spent half the night in the bathroom. When she gets sick, it’s enough to really knock her down. Sakura crawls up to the sink and pulls herself up. No one is in the hall and Sakura makes it back to her bed, but her sleep lasts only a handful of hours before she hears the clang of metal and feels sick again. She gets up and tries to see if she really will be sick, or if it’s just the headache.  
‘I’ll be fine.’ She pulls a bed sheet around her shoulders, too hot for anything else.  
“Damn it, you work her up, skank.”  
“Lay off, at least I’m trying.”  
“You’re making a mess. Move over. Damn-Sakura you’re awake.” Karin is staring at her and Ino is turned around now too. The kitchen is a mess, but something smells good, and that means her stomach isn’t going to roll again.  
Sakura blinks, feeling the room spinning.  
“Yeah.”  
“You’re sick,” Karin says, voice blunt and direct.  
Sakura doesn’t feel like lying about something so obvious anymore. “Yeah.”  
Ino curses and turns back to the food.  
Something shifts and the heat becomes chills. Sakura feels like she has broken and left empty. She’s cold and sweat on her skin makes it worse. She shivers and Karin sees it.  
“Keep it from burning us all to death,” she growls to Ino before moving towards Sakura.  
Karin holds Sakura around the shoulders and leads her back to bed. Sakura buries herself under covers but still shivers. Karin pulls the clip out of Sakura’s hair and takes a towel to wipe the sweat away. “We’re going to get you some food and then you are going to eat it along with some medicine.”  
“Yeah.” Sakura closes her eyes and pulls her legs up. “You should go. You’ll get sick too.”  
She hears Karin leave, but then the television in the corner of her room turns on and Sakura looks up to see one of her favorite childhood cartoons come on. She blinks and The Last Unicorn comes into focus. “This is going to make me cry,” Sakura says before coughing hard.  
Karin pulls back the covers and moves closer to Sakura. It’s enough to make Sakura jerk back and pull away, hand going to her mouth, covering it like that’s where all the germs hide. Eyes wide, she squeaks. “You’ll catch it!”  
“Hell if I care. I can take time off.”  
Ino comes in and does the same thing, but she brings food, and together they eat. Sakura falls asleep after crying over the Unicorn’s fate, like she said she would, but wakes up a handful of hours later. Karin is still under the covers next to her, cuddled close and warm enough to beat back the chills. Ino lounges atop the covers, but her hand holds Sakura’s.  
They’re all going to be sick for the weekend, but Sakura swears she falls asleep again grinning at her idiot roommates. She can’t see herself wanting anything else or anything more for as long as she lives.  
Sakura leans over and kisses Ino, and the blind chuckles, cracking open an eye. “Careful, I just might think I have a shot again.” It’s a teasing smile that reminds Sakura again of when they were nearly high school graduates. “Karin will be jealous.”  
Sakura tuns over just enough to give the redhead a peck on the forehead.  
Ino humms. “She won’t believe me when I tell her.”  
“She won’t have to,” Sakura says around a yawn. She scoots down into more of the covers. “Thanks for staying with me.”  
“We knew you wouldn’t ask for any help. You never do.”  
“Well, now you’re all going to be sick because of me.”  
“Worth it.”  
Sakura hums than falls asleep, too happy to know what to do with herself.


End file.
